AI TikTok Slideshow Generator — Full Info Sheet

What It Does

Personal tool that generates TikTok photo carousel slideshows for your product. You trigger everything manually from a dashboard, review and approve, then add music in TikTok and publish. The system tracks performance and gets smarter over time.

Why Slideshows, Not Video

• TikTok data: carousels get 2.9x more comments, 1.9x more likes, 2.6x more shares vs video
• TikTok algorithm actively pushing slideshows in 2026
• AI image gen is solved — consistent, cheap, fast
• AI video is expensive ($0.10-0.40/sec) and inconsistent
• Cost: ~$0.30-0.70 per slideshow vs $2-10 per video
• Volume wins on TikTok — need 2-3 posts/day, slideshows make that affordable

Tech Stack

Layer	Tech
Runtime	Bun
Monorepo	Turborepo
Backend	Hono
API	tRPC
Frontend	React + TanStack Router
Database	SQLite + Drizzle ORM
UI	shadcn/ui + Tailwind
Scaffolded	Better-T-Stack

Project Structure

slidelot/
├── apps/
│   ├── server/          # Hono backend (port 3000)
│   │   └── src/index.ts # tRPC at /trpc/*, CORS, logger
│   └── web/             # React frontend (port 3001)
│       └── src/
│           ├── routes/  # TanStack file-based routing
│           ├── components/ui/  # shadcn components
│           └── utils/trpc.ts   # tRPC client
├── packages/
│   ├── api/             # tRPC routers (packages/api/src/routers/)
│   ├── db/              # Drizzle schema (packages/db/src/schema/)
│   ├── config/          # Shared TS config
│   └── env/             # Zod env validation

Models & Services

Core (required)

Component	Model/Service	Price	Notes
Hook + caption	Claude Sonnet 4.5	~$0.02/post	Structured output: hook, script, caption, CTA
Image generation	OpenAI GPT Image 1.5	$0.04-0.12/img	Highest quality (1264 Elo). Batch API = half price
Text overlay	sharp (local)	Free	Full control over font size, position, line breaks
TikTok posting	Postiz API	Their pricing	Posts as drafts. Also provides analytics API

Optional / Future

Component	Model/Service	Price	Notes
Text-heavy slide 1	Ideogram 3 API	~$0.04/img	Best text rendering if sharp overlay not enough
Cheaper images	Gemini 3 Pro Image	~$0.02/img	Great quality, half the price of OpenAI
Fast/cheap images	Flux 2 Pro via fal.ai	~$0.03/img	Best value, ultra fast
Revenue tracking	RevenueCat API	Free tier	Full funnel: views -> downloads -> trials -> paid
Video (later)	fal.ai gateway	$0.05-0.40/sec	600+ models: Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1, Sora 2 via 1 API
Voice (later)	Fish Audio	~$60-90/yr	#1 on TTS-Arena, better value than ElevenLabs

Skipped

Skipped	Why
Higgsfield	UI layer over other models. Bad API docs. No benefit over direct calls
Midjourney	No public API. Discord-only. Can't use programmatically
Runway Gen4.5	Great for video but we're doing slideshows. Expensive
ElevenLabs	Fish Audio is cheaper and ranked #1 on TTS-Arena

Cost Per Slideshow

Item	Cost
6 images (GPT Image 1.5 batch)	~$0.24-0.48
Claude for hook + caption	~$0.02
Text overlay (sharp, local)	$0.00
Total	~$0.30-0.50

At 3 posts/day: ~$30-45/month

The 6-Slide Structure

Slide	Purpose	Details
1	Hook	Bold text overlay + scene. Determines everything
2	Problem	Relatable pain point your audience feels
3	Discovery	"Then I found..." moment
4	Transform 1	Before/after or first result
5	Transform 2	Another angle or deeper result
6	CTA	Soft sell, natural product mention

Image Generation Rules

Rule	Value	Why
Dimensions	1024x1536 portrait	Always. TikTok is vertical
Scene consistency	One locked description	Same scene across all 6. Only style/content changes
Text font size	6.5% of image height	Smaller = unreadable on phones
Text position	30% from top	Top 10% hidden by TikTok status bar
Bottom dead zone	Bottom 20%	Hidden by caption + buttons
Line breaks	Every 4-6 words	Prevents horizontal squashing
Hook on slide 1	Full hook, never split	People swipe away before slide 2

Hook Strategy

Proven Formulas

• "I showed my [person] what AI thinks and they couldn't believe it"
• "Nobody talks about..."
• "POV: you just discovered..."
• "I was today years old when..."
• "[Person] reacted to..."

Rules

• Always include another person + their reaction (relatability)
• "I redesigned my room" = nothing. "I showed my landlord" = 200K views
• 80% of creative energy goes into hooks
• Every hook scored by views after posting
• Winners cloned into 3 variations
• Losers logged with reasons

Caption Rules

• Storytelling format, not feature lists or ad copy
• Continue narrative from the hook
• Natural product mention: "I used [app] and honestly wasn't expecting much but look at this"
• Never: "Download MyApp now!"
• Max 5 hashtags (TikTok limit)

Database Schema

Tables

posts — generated slideshow posts

• id, hookId, status (pending/approved/posted/rejected)
• slides (json array of file paths)
• caption, postedAt, postizId, createdAt

hooks — hook texts with performance scores

• id, text, formula, viewCount, score
• status (untested/winner/loser)
• parentHookId (for variations), createdAt

analytics — performance data per post

• id, postId, views, likes, comments, shares
• downloads, trials, conversions, pulledAt

learnings — auto-generated rules from performance

• id, rule, source (auto/manual), createdAt

settings — niche, product info, API keys

• key, value

tRPC Routers

posts

• posts.list — filter by status (pending, approved, posted)
• posts.get — single post with slides
• posts.approve — sets status, triggers Postiz upload
• posts.reject — sets status, logs reason
• posts.regenerate — re-queues with same hook

hooks

• hooks.list — all hooks with scores
• hooks.generate — trigger Claude to generate new hooks
• hooks.update — edit a hook

generation

• generation.createSlides — generate slideshow for a hook
• generation.status — check if generation is running

analytics

• analytics.dashboard — today's numbers, top posts
• analytics.diagnosis — the 2x2 matrix (views x conversions)
• analytics.pull — trigger Postiz analytics fetch
• analytics.report — run diagnosis + update learnings

settings

• settings.get — read all settings
• settings.update — update a setting

Dashboard Routes

Route	Purpose
/	Dashboard — quick stats, recent posts
/generate	Generate hooks -> create slides -> review
/queue	Review queue — swipeable slide previews, approve/reject
/post/$id	Single post — full slide gallery, caption, analytics
/hooks	Hook library — scored list, formulas, winners/losers
/analytics	Performance charts + diagnosis matrix
/settings	Config: niche, product, API keys

User Flow (all manual, no cron)

1. Open dashboard -> hit "Generate Hooks"
   -> Claude generates 5-10 hooks based on niche + past performance

2. Pick hooks you like -> hit "Create Slides"
   -> GPT Image 1.5 generates 6 images per hook
   -> sharp adds text overlay to slide 1
   -> Claude writes caption
   -> Posts land in review queue

3. Review queue -> swipe through slides, read caption
   -> Approve / Edit / Reject / Regenerate

4. Approved posts -> auto-push to TikTok as drafts via Postiz

5. Open TikTok -> add trending music -> publish (60 sec)

6. When you want -> hit "Pull Analytics"
   -> Fetches view counts from Postiz
   -> Optional: fetches revenue from RevenueCat

7. When you want -> hit "Run Report"
   -> Diagnosis matrix runs
   -> Updates hook scores
   -> Generates winner variations
   -> Logs failures
   -> Updates knowledge/learnings

Feedback Loop — Diagnosis Matrix

Views	Conversions	Diagnosis	Action
High	High	Winner	Generate 3 hook variations, scale
High	Low	Wrong audience / weak CTA	Keep hook, rotate CTA
Low	High	Great CTA, weak hook	Keep CTA, test stronger hooks
Low	Low	Dud	Drop it, log to failures

Bigger Picture

Signal	Problem	Fix
Views + downloads up, nobody paying	App onboarding/paywall	Pause posting, fix app
Views up, nobody downloading	CTAs not working	Rotate CTAs
Everything converting, views low	Content great, hooks weak	Focus on stronger hooks

Knowledge System (compounds over time)

Stored in DB (learnings table) and injected into Claude prompts each generation:

• Hook formulas — seeded with proven templates, grows as winners emerge
• Failures — every flop with hook text, view count, one-line reason
• Rules — auto-generated from data ("hooks with reactions outperform solo 3:1")

TikTok Account Tips

• Warm up 7-14 days before posting (scroll, like 1 in 10, follow niche accounts)
• Ready when For You page is almost entirely your niche
• Post as drafts, add trending music manually (10x reach vs no music)
• 3 posts/day target, ~1 in 4 clearing 50K views is the goal
• Never let TikTok auto-pick audio

Environment Variables Needed

Server (apps/server/.env)

DATABASE_URL=file:../../local.db
CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:3001
NODE_ENV=development
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
POSTIZ_API_KEY=...
POSTIZ_INTEGRATION_ID=...
REVENUECAT_API_KEY=...          # optional

Web (apps/web/.env)

VITE_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000

Build Order

1. DB schema + migrations (packages/db)
2. tRPC routers — settings, hooks, posts, generation, analytics (packages/api)
3. Generation logic — Claude for hooks/captions, OpenAI for images, sharp for overlays (apps/server)
4. Settings page — configure niche, product, API keys
5. Generate page — trigger hooks, create slides
6. Queue page — review, approve/reject (mobile-first)
7. Post detail page — slide gallery + analytics
8. Postiz integration — push approved posts as TikTok drafts
9. Analytics pull — fetch performance from Postiz
10. Report/diagnosis — feedback loop, knowledge updates
11. Hooks page — library, scores, formulas
12. Analytics dashboard — charts, diagnosis matrix